Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Nature class in the zoo

We were supposed to go somewhere else, but because of the strong winds and rain we ended up in the zoo. To my surprise we explored a part of the zoo that I have never been to before. We went to the Insect Valley. Kids kept asking if it's really a zoo, as there were no (big) animals, only insects.

So we walked on the path where we were able to spot many caterpillars:

Of course all the kids wanted to know which caterpillars are safe to touch and which we should avoid getting in contact with.

W spotted not only caterpillars, but adult insects too, although not many as they must have been hiding from the rain:

The plant on the photo below produces some sweet sap that attracts ants. The sap stays only in spot that the stem comes out. The plant counts on ants to scare other insects that would otherwise eat the leaves. Smart, isn't it?

This is not a snail trail as many think. It's a tiny larvae moving inside the leaf and feeding off it.

Huge insects were everywhere:

We also looked at some trees and shrubs and even tried a few wild fruits:

Do you know why the branches of this tree fern do not fall off when they dry? By bending down instead of dropping off the dead branches help to protect the tree fern from vines wanting to climb it and live off it.

On our way back to the exit we strolled through the area of the zoo where animals living in the wild in Taiwan are kept. We met some macaques grooming and eating.

A Formosan wild boar 台灣野豬:

Young Formosan sika deer - 台灣梅花鹿

Visit to the zoo was around Christmas time, so you could also see some tacky Holiday decorations:

Klub Polki na Obczyźnie

Popular Posts

Last week Jaś has been very busy working on the animal classification lapbook. Lately it's been very difficult to get him interested in doing any kind of project, but to my surprise he has finished this lapbook in just a few days! I am really proud of him.

I used a ready lapbook template from the wonderful Homeschool Share website, but I asked Jaś to writ all the information in his own handwriting instead of just printing the prepared text.